LENDL'S mind mentor Alexis Castorri, who has worked with him since 1985, took on Andy Murray at the start of the year and the Scot has gone on to win an Olympic and US Open title.

ANDY MURRAY has been working with the female sports psychologist who helped Ivan Lendl become world No.1.

Alexis Castorri began working with Lendl back in 1985 – and the Czech-born American won eight Grand Slams and went on to become the best player on the planet.

Lendl, now Murray’s coach, recommended her services at the start of this year – and the Scot went on to win Olympic Gold and the US Open title.

Murray
said: “It’s something I spoke to Ivan about at the beginning of the year. He’d travelled with a sports psychologist throughout his career.

“He
asked if I was open to trying it and I said yes. It’s always good to try things and see how it works out. I spoke to a lady who Ivan worked with when he played and it went well.

“It’s
been more about things away from the court. That was refreshing, because when I’d spoken to psychologists in the past, I’d only spoken about tennis. And there’s a lot more that goes into your life as an athlete than just what goes on on the court.

“I spoke about things away from the court that may affect you and stop you from being fully focused on tennis.

“That’s
really what’s helped me rather than talking about breathing or taking your time between points. A lot of athletes use sports psychologists. I had in the past and it hadn’t worked particularly well for me.”

Murray threw his racquet to the floor
in fury in the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters before coming back to beat Radek Stepanek in three sets.

He will now face Roger Federer in today’s semi-finals after the Swiss beat Croat Marin Cilic 6-3 6-4.

Murray was satisfied with the way he finished the quarter-final but admitted Stepanek had caused him problems.

The
Scot said: “It was quite a scrappy first couple of sets but obviously in the second set I managed to get a break and got a bit of momentum.

“I started going for my shots and dictated a majority of those at the end of the match.

“Obviously I needed to do that because he was playing with a lot of variety, making it hard.

“I was a little bit tentative on some shots. I allowed him to come forward.”

Brit
Heather Watson reached the semi-finals of the Japan Open in Osaka – and
is now guaranteed to reach the world’s top 60 for the first time.

The world No.71 beat Pauline Parmentier of France 7-5 6-3 and will now face Japan’s Misaki Doe.

But No 8 seed Laura Robson lost 6-3 3-6 7-6 (7-4) to world No.134 Chang Kai-chen.